Earth-717: Fantastic Four Vol 1
Chapter 1: Second Family
The pendulum on the grandfather clock, which was situated in the far right of the room, ticked back and forth. The constant repetition bounced a small sound around the room with each swing of the golden sphere on the end of the pendulum. It also created a sense of consistent balance in the energy of the room, at least in the mind of its occupant.
The room was an office, and a relatively small one at that. The main desk was completely littered with papers, open notebooks, empty coffee cups and used napkins. Virtually none of the wood surface was visible due to the amount of clutter. The waste bin standing against the side of the desk was overflowing with ripped papers and chunks of half-eaten sandwiches.
A single bookshelf was on the left side of the room, opposite the clock. All four rows of the shelf were stuffed with books, on disciplines ranging from microbiology to endocrinology; from mechanical engineering to advanced physics. Many of the books were themselves also stuffed, with sticky notes of various colours with scribbles and markings on them.
Behind the desk was a chair, and in that chair sat a man. He was leaning against the back of it, with his feet crossed and suspended in the air. Holding one of his many notebooks in his left hand and a pen in the right, he scribbled in another line of numbers and algebraic symbols before rubbing his chin. Shaking his head, he wrote in a new line beneath it before scratching out the previous line. Sighing, he then started to write again before leaning too far back. Reed's eyes widened as the chair tipped over backwards, and he fell on his head.
Knocking his feet against the table, dozens of his papers scattered around the room. Sitting down as he straightened his face, Reed watched as the door opened, and a large, muscular man walked into the room.
"Is this some newfangled way of organizing, or did you just fall on your ass?" asked Ben.
"Funny," said Reed, extending a hand.
Ben laughed and walked up to Reed, grabbing his hand. Pulling Reed to his feet, he then slapped him on the back with a chuckle.
"Ah, come on, egghead. Learn to laugh at yourself," said Ben. "Ya gotta admit, seeing the supposedly smartest cat on campus lose a fight to good old gravity is a knee slapper if I've ever seen one."
Reed rubbed the back of his head.
"Hardly," replied Reed. "I was in the middle of some heavy calculations. If I don't calibrate all of my devices according to my set of formulae just right . . . ."
"The whole thing will go kaput-ski," interrupted Ben. "I get it. You always saying the same mumbo-jumbo all the time, but have you ever had one of your little merry machines blow up in your face?"
"No . . . ."
"Then stop your worrying and start your hurrying! We're late for dinner with the Storms!"
Reed's eyes widened.
"What?! What time is it?"
Reed looked at the clock and gasped.
"Jeez louise, Reed, it's like your brain's already gone and left to Mars," said Ben. "I got the car outside ready to roll. Get yourself looking spiffy and we'll get outta here. Oh, and check your clock once in a while from now on, alright?"
"Right."
Reed rushed out of the office and ran down the hall towards the bathroom. Ben shook his head and smiled before inhaling and leaning against the wall. Folding his arms, he smirked and looked down at Reed's desk. Scanning his eyes around at the papers strewn on both the desk and about the room, he then stopped to see a picture frame which was face down on the floor. Raising an eyebrow, he stepped forward and bent down to pick it up.
Holding the frame up, Ben looked at the picture. It was a family portrait. A younger version of Reed was in the centre, sitting on the lap of a smiling woman in an elegant chair. She had short, styled hair and a flower dress. A man in a dress shirt, a bow tie and slacks stood next to the chair, wrapping his arm around the back of it. He was an older man with slightly grey hair and a moustache, but he was also smiling and gently leaning towards the woman and Reed.
Exhaling, Ben looked over at a corner of the desk which was now clear because of the shuffling of papers. Frowning, he placed the frame on the corner and turned it towards the chair. Leaning back against the wall, Ben waited a couple of minutes until Reed walked back into the room with a coat on.
"Alright Ben, sorry for the wait," said Reed. "I'm ready now."
"Yeah," said Ben. "Be right with ya."
Ben pushed himself off the wall and walked up to Reed. The two then began walking down the hallway towards the staircase.
"So remind me again what your big brain was crunching on when you so spectacularly fell outta your chair?" asked Ben.
"My calculations were for theoretical space travel in a craft much smaller than any rocket," explained Reed. "Conventional rockets need to be so large because of the massive amounts of fuel required to break out of Earth's gravity. However, I'm working on a potential energy source which should hypothetically make a more compact craft viable for commercial and utilitarian space flight. I want to make it so that space travel will be an option for every . . . ."
"Alright, alright mega-brain, I'm sorry I asked," interrupted Ben. "Yeesh. You try to have a little common courtesy by showing interest in a guy's work, and ya think he'd have some back by not talking your ear off."
Ben pushed the door open and let Reed walk out of the building and on to the sidewalk before walking through the door himself.
"Tell you what, egghead; you ever get that flying doohickey of yours finished, then I swear on my good old Aunt Petunia's honour that I'll pilot the thing myself. I know you sure as hell won't be able to do it."
Reed smiled and let out a chuckle.
"Very well, Ben. I'll hold you to that."
Reed stuck out his hand. Ben looked down at it before sticking out his own and shaking it.
"You're on, Einstein."
Susan pressed her hands against the glass of the window as the rain poured down it. Staring out at the barely lit neighbourhood street, she continued to breathe slowly and sigh every minute or so. Gently streaking her hands down the glass, she noticed small, smudged, residual finger marks left behind from where her hands used to be.
The continuous pattering of the rain on the glass added a sense of rhythm, and Susan's focus on it led to her tuning out what was outside of her field of vision. She waited for more light to appear on the road ahead of her, but for several minutes nothing changed at all. Suddenly, a jarring noise snapped her out of her trance.
"Sue!"
Susan looked over to the right at her younger brother.
"What is it, Johnny?"
Johnny raised an eyebrow.
"Why are you staring out the window?" asked Johnny.
Susan rolled her eyes and looked back to the window.
"Oh," said Johnny. "I get it. You're waiting to see him."
"Go away, Johnny," said Susan.
Johnny grinned mischievously.
"Sue's in love with Reed!" exclaimed Johnny, before putting on a fake, high-pitched voice and clasping his hands together. "Oh, Reed, won't you please take me out of here and marry me and kiss me all day? Please?"
Susan looked back at Johnny, glaring and clenching her fists.
"You be quiet before I pulverize you, Johnny!"
Johnny stuck out his tongue. Susan yelled in anger before charging at him. Johnny began laughing and running away as Susan chased him down the hallway and into the kitchen.
"Mom!" shouted Johnny. "Sue is trying to hurt me!"
"No!" yelled Susan. "I'm trying to kill you!"
They ran past their mother, Mary, who was standing in front of the stove. She looked down at the kids with an unimpressed face as they grazed her legs.
"Susan," said Mary, "if you're going to kill your brother, can you do it after dinner?"
"Oh, Reed," started Johnny again, "I want to kiss your beautiful face all day long! Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah!"
"I hate you!" screamed Susan.
As they looped back into the living room, Susan tackled Johnny and wrestled him onto the couch. Holding each other's hands, they pushed against each other and growled.
"Guys," said Mary, "try to keep the roughhousing to a minimum, okay?"
Susan clenched her teeth at Johnny as the doorbell rang.
"Coming!" shouted Mary.
Her eyes widening, Susan instantly let go of Johnny and jumped off of him. She quickly straightened her hair as Johnny chuckled.
"Gotta make sure you look good for your husband?"
Susan glared at Johnny again before shaking her fist at him.
"I'll break your stupid face if you make fun of me again," replied Susan.
"Ooooh, I'm so scared."
Mary walked through the hallway and past the living room before arriving at the door. Pulling it open, she saw both Reed and Ben standing on the other side.
"Boys!" said Mary. "Come in, come in! What took you so long?"
Ben shrugged.
"Eh, got stuck in traffic, and by stuck in traffic I mean the traffic of Reed's brain. I'm afraid old Doc Richards is to blame yet again."
Reed shook his head as the two of them walked in.
"I'm so glad to know that you have my back, Ben," said Reed.
Reed turned to Mary.
"Thank you again for having us, Mrs. Storm."
Mary waved her hand down.
"Oh posh, don't give me that. Please, call me Mary. I don't like going by my married name anymore, since well . . . . you know. Besides, you're practically family to us."
Reed was silent for a moment before smiling.
"Thank you."
Ben scratched the back of his head.
"Now, where are those unscrupulous ruffians?"
Johnny ran into the hallway and threw up his arms.
"Ben!"
Johnny ran forward and leaped at Ben, who caught him and held him up high. Johnny giggled in delight.
"Well, look who it is," said Ben. "Mary's spawn of the devil himself. You staying in trouble as much as possible?"
"Yes sir," replied Johnny with a smile.
"Hey, that's my boy! Now let me clobber you, ya rascal."
The two laughed as Ben held Johnny under his arm and began scratching the top of his head with his knuckles. Reed looked past them to see Susan walk into the hallway. Putting her finger through the hair over her ear, she looked forward at him and held her hands together right in front of her.
"Hello, Susan."
Reed stepped forward and knelt down in front of Susan. She inhaled and paused for a moment before responding.
"Hello, Reed."
"How have you been?"
"Good . . . . er, I mean, well, I've been well," replied Susan.
"You been taking care of your mom for me?"
Susan tilted her head to the side slightly before nodding.
"Yeah."
"Good," said Reed, smiling.
He then stood up and walked past her. After a second, she exhaled and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. She then watched as Ben put Johnny on his shoulder and walked down the hallway past her. Sighing as she looked down at her hands, she then turned around and followed them into the kitchen.
Mary was placing the last plate on the kitchen table.
"Alright everyone, take a seat."
Some time later, after most of the food on the table had been consumed, Mary began speaking to Reed.
"So Reed," said Mary, "what were you working on that caused you to be late this time?"
Reed softly laughed.
"Ah, it was my compact space craft, actually."
Mary raised an eyebrow.
"It's the project I'm most passionate about," explained Reed. "I'm trying to find a way to create a smaller, more economical, and eventually, much more accessible means of space travel that will, hopefully, be a means of transportation that everyone can use in the future."
"Wow, well you certainly do aim big," replied Mary.
"That's very interesting," said Susan.
Johnny scoffed at her. She then kicked him in his shin under the table and smiled forward.
"Ow . . . ." said Johnny.
"Heck, Reed ain't even spendin' all his time on it, if you can believe it," started Ben. "He somehow manages to fit in tutoring, and he even chums it up with Victor so they can have symposiums with all of the jargon, but none of the alcohol!"
"What is Victor doing these days?" asked Mary.
"He's focused on trans-dimensional portal technology," answered Reed. "He says he's on the cusp of a breakthrough; that's why he's having a demonstration tomorrow at the university. The work he's doing is really quite fascinating."
Mary nodded in approval.
"Well, I certainly hope it goes well."
Reed weakly smiled.
"So do I."